I did. It was just about dusk when I slipped into the shed, finding the orb, shining bright in darkness, untouched. Something about it was simply so fascinating. Perhaps it was the way mist seemed to swirl inside its milky blue inside, but I was compelled to try and look it over rather than leave it alone as any sensible person would. Besides, I'm not a sensible person anyway, so what did it matter?
Curiousity killed the cat. The very moment my hands touched the glossy surface, feeling again that cold unearthly chill, it shattered. Not literally at all. I jerked them back, staring as shards flew everywhere, each bursting out in a way that reminded me oddly of fireworks. Yet the entire process was silent as midnight. Pieces of a scene begin to form - one shard turned into a splinter of the sky, another a pale wash of candlelight over the table. It was a scene quite different than my toolshed. A gallows stood in the town square. Lights were flickering to life even as I watched, forming shapes of windows and doors in midair.
Oh my god. There was a town in my shed.
I think I must have blacked out briefly, because the next moment the scene had disappeared completely. Darn those fairies! They were more trouble than they were worth! Hearing some sort of noise from where the orb sat, I froze, eyeing the thing under my hands. It was so innocently silent. Then something happened. A rent in the air in front of my face tentatively opened up.
It was a good thing I didn't pass out right then, however tempted I was. My first thought; "Black hole!" and then, "Echthroi!" Books came in handy when you were panicking.
A white stream of fog billowed forth, sinisterly resembling smoke in the dusky darkness of the shed. It was as unreal as the images, but effectively obscured everything; the orb (now whole), the slash hanging in midair, the table - I couldn't even see my own hands. Then, slowly, the blinding whiteness shrunk in on itself into an oval, then faded away entirely, leaving...
A portal? I felt dizzy, certain I must have truly gone insane. Been many somewheres, done many things, but nothing so completely out of place and weird as this. I had heard something about a hallway appearing in someone's bathroom a couple days ago. Maybe this was the same thing?
The rent had become an opening, shaped into a crude oval, which was strangely wobbly. Cool night air wafted in through the opening. I crouched down and leaned closer, peering into the darkness. I couldn't see anything, but that was understandable, it being night...but could hear angry shouts and doors crashing and booted feet stomping on wood. "Damned fools." Bitterly a man's voice drifted from...below? "They brought it on themselves." And another butted in, "At least we'll be rid of them! How long do you think this could go on? My daughter died because of those demons. We're paying them back, and not just for all the food they've wasted on their own miserable lives..."
Grim chuckles sounded at that. It seemed perfectly nice people could turn out like demons themselves when threatened, and worse when the threatened ones were their family. I chanced a look out, just to see what was going on...and started back in horror. The entrance was the loop of a noose! They were preparing for a hanging! 'And what happens when they hang the person?' An involuntary shudder traveled up my spine. I didn't want to witness a death firsthand.
As it turned out, I didn't even have to worry.
The voices speaking below caught and held as one at the same moment a cry rang out, "They're escaping!" Left alone as the men charged out with their fellows, I dared to look out again, unpleasantly aware of the thick rope scraping my neck as I stared out into the darkness of another time and place, where lanterns bobbed and houselights flooded out onto the dirt. Just beyond the ring of light two people ran on towards the gates, heedless of the villagers behind them.
The woman lurched forward, banging her palms against the gate, discovering the metal part by touch. Her hands fumbled on the latch, slick as it was from last night's rainfall. Small drops were already beginning to fall. "Please." she whispered, hearing a small whimper from the child at her side, who was looking back straight into the face of their doom. "Please!" Strings twanged, but the arrows peppered them harmlessly, the archers' aim poor in this darkness. With a delicate click the lock was tumbled, and she reached out, fingers striking metal. At last! Pulling urgently on her son's arm, she made to pull open the door...
And halted, transfixed. She slumped against the gate. He felt it in the moment her fingers, curled in his, began to tighten fiercely as though his hand were pure life that she could cling to. With a horrified, choking sort of cry, he stared down at her and the arrow growing from in between her shoulderblades, the stain of blood already turning the green of her dress to near black. Reeling, he tried to let go as his mother hit the dirt with a thud, feeling dimly shocked and disconnected. He was so completely terrified and so completely young at that moment and didn't know how to handle it.
That was before another arrow found his own back.
The villagers didn't care how they died. They just wanted them dead. I thought I must have imagined the look of bitter, helpless relief on the woman's face - but no, she hadn't wanted to die, but a death by hanging was too horrible to consider. She didn't want to see her son dangling against the sky in his final moments. No villagers rushed to help them, no brave soul kind enough to try, for only hostile faces stared back from the safety of their warmly lit homes. Their efforts were all for naught. She succumbed herself as she felt the small hand in hers finally relax, feeling bitterly angry at humankind...and hoping, wishing, that things had turned out better.
Rain began to fall. Furtively, white whisps of fog began to rise from the soil around their bodies. While throwing off a gentle illumination they began to touch and twirl around them, nesting in their hair, settling on fingers tightly wrapped in one another. As the villagers watched on they stood guard over the brave people's souls. From what, nobody knew. Perhaps it was merely tribute - when the last one coiled up into the air, white hot lightning speared through the night sky, like the shot of a gun at a funeral.
Nothing else happened after that. The loop was beginning to feel tighter and tighter, as though the portal was trying to flow shut, and I pulled my head back to let it go ahead. I sat back hard on my heels, affected profoundly by such a small scene of human cruelty. Touched a hand to where the rope had rubbed my neck, blinking tears from my eyes. 'That was...horrible.'
The orb was gone, but its effects remained. Phantom raindrops appeared around the shed from nowhere and disappeared just as quickly. Snatches of conversation randomly filtered in. I wobbled to my feet, blinked as a raindrop hit my nose, and backed out of the shed like a poisonous viper stood in front of me. I leaned against the door to close it, taking a good deep breath of muggy summertime air. "It wasn't real." I said aloud. It didn't help. "Just some stupid magic orb. Those fairies were probably running a tourist attraction or something." That helped somewhat. Rubbing a palm against my forehead, I closed my eyes, trying to calm down - and heard a funny noise coming from deep inside the shed.
My imagination. That was all.
It came again. A sound like someone was crying...
